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The career of American entertainer Madonna has been defined, by a noteworthy attention on her appearance, image and in recent decades it also include her age. Reviews played for and against her, and reportedly placed her music (and messages) second. It reached larger divergent reviews starting the 2010s, with Madonna becoming more a counter-cultural figure.

The way she deployed her image, using identities, playing with gender roles, stage personae or alter egos while reinventing her style, was compared to or said to be influenced by art-world figures such as Picasso and Cindy Sherman, and entertainers like David Bowie. It was also compared to Michael Jackson, as some critics explained both represented the triumph of the image in the 1980s. Her own path, influenced other entertainers, credited by critics or acknowledged by some artists. Her decades-long successful manage of her image, attained significant attention from business community.

Contrasts. Strong reactions. Bi directional responses. Affirmed or denied.

Extended idea.

Fixation on Madonna's career[edit]

She's not really a singer per se, but she created the whole idea of a pop icon marketing herself. She's the epitome of the modern entertainer.

Entertainment Weekly (1999)[1]

The fixation on Madonna's image has been present since her debut, defining both her career and placing her music second. In Musicologists, Sociologists and Madonna (1993), John Street said that her reception "it is devoted almost exclusively to her image and appearance" for both her critics and defenders.[2] Madonna's biography at Ohio State University, pinpointed how her "image became the source of endless debate among feminists and cultural scholars".[3]

Since her early career, publications like Time magazine, alienated the perspective, describing in 1985 that "her image has completely overshadowed her music" and labeling her a pin-up girl.[4] Also that year, critic Greil Marcus said, "I don't think Madonna [...] has any particular interest in music".[5] Madonna was also instantly deemed more a pop icon than a musician.[6][7][1] In the 1990s, Martha Bayles described that it was in the "extramusical realm that Madonna really made her name",[8] and Annalee Newitz said she "is not a musician" but she defined instead, how Madonna has given to culture "a collection of images".[9] While Melody Maker called her "the most popular female singer of all time" during that decade, her success was credited to her image, as they described "she is pure image".[2]

Madonna's was often deemed as a self-marketing character, attaining praise but also critics over years, from both music industry and business community. Noting that aspect, Christopher John Farley wrote for Time in 1994, her career has "never really been about music".[10] On the other hand, Lucy O'Brien wrote in Madonna: Like an Icon, that Madonna earned a popular negative stereotype of "publicity-hungry".[11]

Critical views of Madonna and image-concepts[edit]

Shortly after her rose to prominence, a significant amount of reviewers credited Madonna as the "first female" to have "complete control" over every aspect of her image,[3] or further more than other fellows before her. Observers like Roger Blackwell supported that view, whilst at the same time, also mentioned previous examples.[12] The perspective of Sonya Andermahr from the University of Northampton rans like this: "She exercise[d] more power and control over the production, marketing and financial value of her image than any female icon before her".[13] To the extend, Madonna earned a long-time reputation for being very "in control" and "calculate" every move.[14] English music Paul Morley largely explored these views in Words & Music (2015), saying "she controlled herself and her images".[15] In 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music (2007), Chris Smith deem Madonna as perhaps the artist who has manipulated her image the most, stating it helped her reach a status of "near-legendary cultural phenomenon".[16]

Deployment, and reinvention[edit]

The way she deployed her image: from fashion to visual presentation were scrutinized and theorized. "Academic writing on Madonna has seen her as innovative largely in her usage of images", wrote scholar Sara Mills in Gendering the Reader (1994).[17] In Girl Heroes (2002), Susan Hopkins named her the "quintessential image strategist".[18]

Early reviews, from media to academia, seen multiple commentaries on her use of "identities" and how she transformed identities in her career "into a concept".[19] She became "popular because she reflects our own uncertainties about identity", once wrote Harvard's scholar Lynne Layton.[20] Gender theorist Judith Butler commented she embodied multiple identities at once.[21] Andrew Willis in Film Stars: Hollywood and Beyond (2004), wrote she "promoted the idea that female identity was a construct that could be orchestrated and manipulated at will".[22] In similar connotations, Ty Burr said in early 2010s, that she is the "first postmodern female celebrity in that she considered 'authenticity' to be just one more mask".[23]

On the other hand, Madonna's ever changing style or "reinvention" defined her career image,[24] and it "fuelled a boom in jargon-filled academic studies about her as a post-feminist chameleon", said a Financial Times contributor in 2008.[25] In her Madonna biography of 2015, Michelle Morgan wrote "reinvention" is a word constantly attributed in her career.[26] "Most critics" recognized it, commented Swedish author Maria Wikse in 2006, further remarking how "it influences the way in which we read" her.[27] Psychoanalyses / Feminisms (2000) editors defined it as one of her "cultural meanings",[28] and another critic claimed her greatest success was reinventing herself.[29] It also prompted that some publications referred to her as "master of the unexpected",[30] with Roger Ebert claiming in the 1990s, "she changes images so quickly that she is always ahead of her audience".[31] In her reinvention, she incorporated alter egos, noted as an "ever-changing show-business alter ego" in Hollywood Songsters: Garland to O'Connor (2003) by James Robert Parish and Michael R. Pitts.[32] However, some of her latter most reinventions divided opinions. It looks "more desperate than groundbreaking", wrote Vinay Menon from Toronto Star about her alter ego Madame X of 2019.[24] Back in 2006, American critic Ginia Bellafante stated "Madonna no longer re-invents, she maintains".[33]

Madonna's reinvention has been compared to, or said to be influenced by art-world figures such as Cindy Sherman and Picasso,[34][35] and entertainers like David Bowie, with whom Australian scholar McKenzie Wark said both "raised this to a fine art".[36] In 2023, novelist Jennifer Weiner opined for The New York Times that every new version of Madonna was both a look and a commentary on looking, a statement about the artifice of beauty.[37]

Impact[edit]

While those concepts goes before Madonna and the 1980s, she achieved praise and influenced others. To historian Glen Jeansonne, both Michael Jackson and Madonna represented "the triumph of image" of the 1980s, and which revolutionized the way recordings and artists were sold to the public.[38] Music critic Robert Christgau, in Is It Still Good to Ya? (2018), referred to "the world Madonna made—a world in which female vocalists are obliged to be far more glamorous".[39]

In 2013, Manchester Metropolitan University scholars, echoed that "she has been heralded as a 'unique female' figure because of the control that she exerts over her identity".[40] Madonna was "credited with popularizing the view that identity is not fixed and can be continuously rearranged and revamped", according to British scholar David Gauntlett.[41] In 2018, Wesley Morris from The New York Times heralded Madonna as the "first great identity artist".[42]

Madonna's own forays into reinventing her image, followed a similar linked pattern of commentaries. She is not the first musical artist to reinvent her image wrote an scholar,[43] although, author K. Elan Jung wrote in 2010, "she displayed an almost unique capacity for reinvention".[44] More than one observer, compared the contrasts she displayed, playing with various gender roles with an editor from German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung expressing in 2010, that she linked patterns that were seen as largely "incompatible".[21] In a similar remark, Vicki Karaminas and Adam Geczy agreed that she achieved "iconic status" becoming "the first woman [...] with [such] mainstream panache and approbation".[45]

She was "widely" dubbed the "Queen of Reinvention",[46] and Maureen Orth called her "Queen Mother of All Reinvention".[47] Madonna was credited with helping transform "self-reinvention" and "multiples identities" into a business strategy in her industry.[34] She was even used as a role model for others in the business community.[48] Due to her prominence, Matt Cain wrote for The Daily Telegraph that she "popularized" reinvention in popular music,[49] while Erica Rusell from MTV citing her "legacy" in a 2019 article, said it "have left a lasting mark on the culture of pop music, normalizing it for artists to reinvent their image, sound, and creative themes upon each new 'era' or album release".[50] Her path has been perceived on other entertainers.[34] Joe Zee and Alyssa Giacobbe, included artists such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga or even Taylor Swift,[51] while various of them, such as Rihanna and Lil' Kim publicly acknowledged Madonna's reinvention influence.[52][53]

Criticisms and ambiguity[edit]

Writing for L'Abri in 2008, Jock McGregor said that "in many ways Madonna is a victim of her own image".[54] Early in 2000, photographic critic Vince Aletti, similarly claimed that Madonna "has been attacked by critics for being more about image than substance".[55] In Shari Benstock's and Suzanne Ferriss Oh Fashion (1994), academic Douglas Kellner opined "Madonna problematized identity and revealed its constructedness and alterability".[56] Some late-twentieth century feminists were concerned as her multiple personae were deemed as a "threat to women's socialization, which entails the necessary integration of female identity".[43]

In Representing Gender in Cultures (2004), editors recalled an objected view: "It is the very instability of Madonna's image, its incessant reinvention that produces anxiety both in the mass audience and the academic circles, and encourages frequent and rather desperate attempts at finding a steady point".[57]

Media representation[edit]

Her image was also defined by her representation in the media. In both traditional media channels in her generation, and with the advent of social media, she received positive and negative commentaries.

Scholars in Keeping the Promise: Essays on Leadership, Democracy, and Education (2007), wrote "Madonna is a complex character in media culture" and, at the same time, pinpointed her multiple media representations.[58] Multiples academics examined her media representations and discourses,[59] over years.

Traditional media[edit]

Madonna was labeled and compared to being a "media manipulator" for various years, attaining praise. Writing for The Baltimore Sun in 1995, J. D. Considine heralded her as "more media manipulator than musician".[60] American journalist Josh Tyrangiel said that she reached her peak when released Like a Prayer.[61] Various critics praised her, such as Stephen Thomas Erlewine whom called it one of her "greatest achievements".[62] In her biography profile at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they said "no one in the pop realm has manipulated the media with such as savvy sense of self-promotion".[63] On the other hand, Lucy O'Brien wrote in Madonna: Like an Icon, that Madonna earned a popular negative stereotype that she is a "manipulative ballbreaker".[11]

Social media[edit]

Madonna constructed and deconstructed herself beginning in the 2010s, with her on-stage image and her introduction to social media channels, such as Instagram and TikTok. In 2015, Peter Robinson wrote for The Guardian how she entered internet in early 2000s, broking even viewing records, also noting her early absence in social media channels when the format becoming popular. He later referred to her social accounts have "become a hashtag-strewn, meme-littered jamboree of misfires through which the image Madonna spent three decades refining has begun to unravel".[64] A 2016 research cited by sources like The Independent described her a "toxic" figure calling her media image "embarrassing". According to the scholar, it was not because of her age, but because her then-well received "media manipulator" image, turned at that time "inauthentic".[65]

Lifestyle[edit]

Madonna wearing a sporty outfit in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1993)

In the 2000s, a columnist from Belfast Telegraph explained that "she was a full package of a way of living",[66] while British author George Pendle, describes she defined a way of living in the 1980s and 1990s, and this led to having considered her as a cultural icon.[67]

While the phenomenon goes back, music critic Richard Morrison explained that both Madonna and Michael Jackson offered what can be called an "egocentric" experience, fusing their private lives, public and private persona, and concluding "Madonna's whole life revolves around the presentation of her image".[54] Lynne Layton, once expressed she makes sense of her life, by "deliberately making her life as part of her work".[20] In 2018, Caryn Ganz from The New York Times commented she "was a pioneer of welding her voice to her image".[42]

Attention on her career[edit]

For a best part of her career, her lifestyle attracted an extensively attention to the point it has been discussed more than her music, according to her biography at Ohio State University.[3] The Observer columnist Barbara Ellen similarly states "Madonna's life has always been much more vigorously reviewed that her art".[68] Rolling Stone Press commented "her personal life is tracked, scrutinized and documented as a matter of course".[69] At some stage of her career, her life generated a significant scholarly attention as well.[70]

Health and physical appearance[edit]

In 1987, Vegetarian Times referred to her "devotion to physical fitness".[71]

Impact[edit]

Persona[edit]

Madonna has been noted for her ever self-actualization/shifting persona

Aside of playing with identities during her reinventions, Madonna was described as a "shifting persona".[43] Author Adam Nayman, said like Bowie, she "was a shape-shifter, always different yet always herself".[72] Others have referred to her self-actualization. In Madonna: Like an Icon (2007), O'Brien wrote, "I have always found her work clear and autobiographical, but her personality complex and disarmingly changeable".[11] In 1991, Graham Cray opined, she developed a persona, saying "is a complex persona and phenomenon requiring detailed analysis".[73] In American Icons (2006), associate professor Diane Pecknold explained that her persona also contributed to the rise of her mini academic subdiscipline, Madonna Studies.[70]

Ethan Mordden "more for who she is than for what she does", but praised her, and said she is "unpredictable".[74]

Aspects[edit]

In a op-ed for PerthNow in 2023, Sarah Vine called Madonna a "Queen of non-conformism".[75] "Everything Madonna does is extreme", wrote Marjorie Hallenbeck-Huber in Celebrities' Most Wanted (2009).[76]

For a best part of her public career, Madonna was linked as a perfectionist and it also helped to being deemed as a narcisist. Author Saul Austerlitz, said that she engaged in a one-upmanship contest with herself.[77]

In 2022, associate professor Katie Kapurch cited by The Guardian, says "it's all very meta-textual", to the fact she joined the "credit-taking trend" in social media channel, popular among various artists, but Madonna, "instead of defending her art, she's defending the history of her art [and ...] When you earnestly take credit for your work, the effect can be cringe-y [...] It's better to be ironic".[78]

Impact on audience[edit]

Madonna's self-determination and attitude impacted generations of people. Up to early 2020s, many have talked about a continued influence.

Ambiguity or criticisms[edit]

Lucy O'Brien (sic) "it has often been asked, who is the 'real' Madonna?".[11][a]


Roger Blackwell recognized Madonna's impact, but described that "personality usually overshadows her musical product".[12] She was called a demanding diva. In Madonna: A Biography (2007), Mary Cross defined: "Madonna is demanding, but given her own perfectionism and discipline, she expects a lot from her entourage".[79] Citing Madonna's "fear of being mediocre" in a 1991 interview, Emma Ineson concluded in Ambition (2019), that her "biggest fear is mediocrity".[79]

J. Hoberman once commented in early 1990s, "to criticize Madonna for her narcissism is to complain that water is wet".[80] In 2015, Paul Morley, wrote she made a "great speed" and a "very broad line". For example, she "wanted to show that as a woman she could be just as selfish, just as self-obsessed, as any man", said.[15]

Ageism[edit]

Several observers, have commented a long-time focus on Madonna's age from media publications, and how latter became recurrent in her project reviews, and other related activities, defining further her image.

Polarization in aged-age[edit]

Perspectives[edit]

Bi-directional views and responses were largely seen among Madonna's audience, critics and general viewers throughout social media channels, and media coverage.

Long-time Madonna critic, Piers Morgan,

Madonna's responses[edit]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Various reviewers conducted headlines or discussed this, asking "Who's That Girl"?

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b CBS News Staff (November 3, 1999). "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men". CBS News. Retrieved October 2, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Street, John (1993). "Musicologists, Sociologists and Madonna". Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research. 6 (3): 277–289. doi:10.1080/13511610.1993.9968356. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Madonna". Ohio State University. Archived from the original on December 16, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  4. ^ "Madonna". Time. Vol. 125, no. 9–17. 1985. p. 76. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  5. ^ Sexton 1993, p. 3
  6. ^ Harrison 2017, p. 213
  7. ^ Havranek 2009, p. 262
  8. ^ Bayles 1996, p. 334
  9. ^ Newitz, Annalee (November 1993). "Madonna's Revenge". EServer.org. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2022. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; February 28, 2014 suggested (help)
  10. ^ Farley, Christopher John (1994). "Madonna Goes PG-13". Time. p. 81. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d O'Brien 2007, p. 15
  12. ^ a b Blackwell & Stephan 2004, pp. 173–177
  13. ^ Gnojewski 2017, p. 48
  14. ^ Fouz-Hernández & Jarman-Ivens 2004, p. 188
  15. ^ a b Morley 2015, p. online
  16. ^ Smith 2007, p. 178
  17. ^ Mills 1994, p. 71
  18. ^ Hopkins 2002, p. 52
  19. ^ Bosch & Mancoff 2009, p. 642
  20. ^ a b Layton 2013, p. online
  21. ^ a b von Lowtzow, Caroline (May 17, 2010). "Aus der Ursuppe des Trash". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  22. ^ Willis 2004, p. 159
  23. ^ Burr 2012, p. 289
  24. ^ a b Menon, Vinay (April 15, 2019). "Why Madonna's new alter ego, Madame X, seems more desperate than groundbreaking". Toronto Star. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  25. ^ "Woman in the News: Madonna". Financial Times. April 25, 2008. Archived from the original on April 30, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  26. ^ Morgan 2015, p. online
  27. ^ Wikse 2006, p. 9
  28. ^ Gordon & Rudnytsky 2000, p. 224
  29. ^ Rosentreter 2013, p. 343
  30. ^ "Madonna's lost it – here's what she needs to do to get it back". The New Zealand Herald. June 27, 2015. Archived from the original on March 25, 2022. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  31. ^ Ebert 1993, p. 173
  32. ^ Parish & Pitts 2003, p. 521
  33. ^ Bellafante, Ginia (November 23, 2006). "A Tribute to Madonna's Current and Former Selves". The New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2023.
  34. ^ a b c Brown 2014, p. 130
  35. ^ Walker 2003, pp. 65–89
  36. ^ Wark 1999, p. 80
  37. ^ Weiner, Jennifer (February 8, 2023). "Madonna's New Face Is a Brilliant Provocation". The New York Times.
  38. ^ Jeansonne 2006, p. 443
  39. ^ Christgau 2018, p. online
  40. ^ Milestone & Meyer 2013, p. online
  41. ^ Fouz-Hernández & Jarman-Ivens 2004, p. 171
  42. ^ a b "60 Times Madonna Changed Our Culture". The New York Times. August 16, 2018. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  43. ^ a b c Schwichtenberg 2019, p. online
  44. ^ Jung 2010, p. 169
  45. ^ Karaminas & Geczy 2013, p. 38
  46. ^ Raines 2010, p. xi
  47. ^ Orth 2014, p. online
  48. ^ van Ham, Peter (March 18, 2008). "NATO and the Madonna Curve: why a new Strategic Concept is vital". NATO Review. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  49. ^ Cain, Matt (July 27, 2018). "Eight ways Madonna changed the world, from exploring female sexuality to inventing reality TV". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2021.
  50. ^ Russell, Erica (April 24, 2019). "Why Madonna's Legacy of Reinvention is More Relevant Than Ever". MTV. Archived from the original on October 22, 2019.
  51. ^ Zee & Giacobbe 2015, p. 223
  52. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (October 20, 2011). "Is Rihanna 'Really' The New Madonna?". MTV. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
  53. ^ Cane, Clay (August 12, 2010). "Lil' Kim Interview". BET. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  54. ^ a b McGregor, Jock (2008). "Madonna: Icon of Postmodernity" (PDF). L'Abri. pp. 1–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 7, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2021. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; December 7, 2010 suggested (help)
  55. ^ Aletti, Vince (March–April 2000). "Q&A Madonna: the real views of a modern muse". American Photo. Vol. 11, no. 2. p. 44. Retrieved November 21, 2022.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
  56. ^ Benstock & Ferriss 1994, p. 162
  57. ^ Oleksy & Rydzewska 2004, p. 136
  58. ^ Carlson & Gause 2007, p. 327
  59. ^ Schwichtenberg 1993, p. 153
  60. ^ Considine, J. D. (November 7, 1995). "Pure Madonna Album review". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  61. ^ Tyrangiel, Josh (January 25, 2010). "All-TIME 100 Albums". Time. Archived from the original on June 27, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  62. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Madonna Biography at MTV". MTV. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2015. If necessary, click option Bio
  63. ^ "Madonna Biography". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  64. ^ Robinson, Peter. "Madonna: How the control queen lost her touch when media went social". The Guardian. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  65. ^ Sherwin, Adam. "Madonna has now become 'toxic' figure for millennials, academics say". The Independent. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  66. ^ Walker, Gail (August 19, 2008). "Why we're all still so hung up on Madonna". Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  67. ^ Pendle, George (2005). "I'm Looking Through You On the slip of the icon". Bidoun. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  68. ^ Ellen, Barbara (August 1, 2004). "Meet mid-life Madonna". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  69. ^ Rolling Stone Press 1997, p. 16
  70. ^ a b Hall & Hall 2006, pp. 445–449
  71. ^ Robenznieks, Andis. "Striking a Chord for Vegetarianism". Vegetarian Times. No. 124. p. 36. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  72. ^ Nayman 2021, p. online
  73. ^ Cray, Graham (July–August 1991). "Post-modernist Madonna". Third Way. Vol. 14, no. 6. pp. 7–10. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
  74. ^ Mordden 2016, p. online
  75. ^ Vine, Sarah. "Sarah Vine: She's an icon of freedom, so why can't Madonna wear her age and experience with pride?". PerthNow. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  76. ^ Hallenbeck-Huber 2010, p. 40
  77. ^ Austerlitz 2007, p. online
  78. ^ Demopoulos, Alaina (October 24, 2022). "Madonna on TikTok: she's recycling 'the shock value of her heyday'". The Guardian. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  79. ^ a b Cross 2007, p. 52 Cite error: The named reference "Cross52" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  80. ^ Sexton 1993, p. 11

Book sources[edit]

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